Quote:About 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030, upping obesity rates to 42 percent of the U.S. population, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report also predicts that the proportion of Americans who are severely obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, will reach 11 percent, about double the current rate.

The report's authors give a sobering price tag for these predictions: such an increase would create USD 550 billion of obesity-related health care costs.Eric Finkelstein, one of the authors of the report, said the prospect of such increasing rates, particularly those of severely obese Americans, is alarming since efforts aimed at helping people lose weight have so far proven relatively ineffective.

"Their weight continues to increase. Over the last 10 years, it has gone up tremendously," he said in a press conference. "This is a group at great risk of health complications, and yet they are increasing at an even greater rate than the rate of obesity."The report was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and was released at the CDC's Weight of the Nation conference today, a gathering focused on the impact of the obesity epidemic.

The authors analyzed data collected from each state and made projections based on a number of factors influencing obesity rates, including the cost of healthy and unhealthy foods, gas prices and Internet access."Predicting obesity is tricky and no one variable showed up as causing obesity," Finkelstein said.

Although recent data suggest that rates of obesity have reached a plateau, current rates of obesity are still alarmingly high. About 34 percent of adults are currently obese, creating a whole host of expensive, chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The report's authors said a number of factors could lead to the predicted rise in obesity. About two-thirds of Americans are currently overweight and could continue to gain weight and move into the obese category.Dr. William Dietz, one of the study's authors and director of the CDC's division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, also noted that children who are currently overweight or obese will likely be a major source of the increasing rates.

"We know that about 50 percent of severe obesity in adults is consequence of obesity in childhood," he said.Currently about 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese.Anti-obesity measures such as better urban design, access to recreational facilities, workplace health promotion and new drugs could help reign in the problem, the authors noted.

ceddeeoo Wrote:Impose a sin-tax on all fast food like the tax on alcohol and cigarettes. Fix the terrible food served in public education. Increase regulations of USDA on fast food.


or




kill all the fat people and use their grease for renewable energy while improving the gene pool ? Or make them run in hamster wheels to produce electricity until they're not fat anymore ?

Spartacus Wrote:I lost about 50 pounds in the past 6 months.

I weighed about 257 pounds before. The initial start to losing weight was hard. Noticing my progress helped kept me going. Feeling a lot better now physically and mentally.

Still have another 30 pounds to lose to reach my ideal weight.

Spartacus Wrote:I'm a 5"11..it's like just a little more to 6 feet damn

BRABUS Wrote:

Spartacus Wrote:I'm a 5"11..it's like just a little more to 6 feet damn

get a knee extension surgery, just 1 more inch, you can join the 6' club.
it only cost less than your computer in Thailand.

JackMonroe Wrote:Let people eat what they want.  Why do you care what other people eat anyway?  Government should have absolutely no say in this matter.  It's stupid.  I really don't know why you would want someone telling you what you can and can't eat.  Pisses me right off.  If you want to be skinny, eat right and exorcise.  Don't blame the world around you.

ceddeeoo Wrote:

JackMonroe Wrote:Let people eat what they want.  Why do you care what other people eat anyway?  Government should have absolutely no say in this matter.  It's stupid.  I really don't know why you would want someone telling you what you can and can't eat.  Pisses me right off.  If you want to be skinny, eat right and exorcise.  Don't blame the world around you.

what about your tax money being spent on health costs for diabetics and other obese-related diseases ? I understand your mentality completely but think on a macro level what doubling the already obscene percentage of obese people there are in america will do. It will one day start affecting your life.

My main concern however are all the kids that are born fat, with disabilities and diseases they have to treat the rest of their life because of their parents' decisions. They do not deserve being born into this world with so much physical and later emotional restraint being put on them.